


how to care for children: the trials and tribulations of junhoe

by greyskieslatenights



Category: iKON (Kpop)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Single Parents, more tags to be added as needed, occasional lapslock because i'm lazy, the junhwan/bobdong are the parent pairings btw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6330877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyskieslatenights/pseuds/greyskieslatenights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a collection of drabbles featuring junhoe as the single father of jinhwan, and the subsequently occurring shenanigans.</p><p>(don't ask me why I titled it this, I don't know either)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea how to take care of children so please take everything with the biggest grain of salt you can possibly find. maybe just get the entire saltshaker. and throw it over your left shoulder. to ward off stray sathwans.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jinhwan joins the elementary school soccer team.

Koo Junhoe’s been a parent for ten years, and he still has no idea what he’s doing.

“What?” he says, glancing in the rearview mirror in the backseat, where Jinhwan’s buckled securely into his car seat.

“Bobby’s joining the kids’ soccer team, and I wanna join too.”

“Who’s Bobby?” Junhoe asks, pulling out of the elementary school parking lot. Jinhwan seems to have new friends every other day, which is great and all, but Junhoe’s never been good at remembering people and he’s even worse with children.

“He moved here last week,” Jinhwan says, bouncing in his seat, “and he’s got bunny teeth and he’s in fourth grade not fifth like me but he’s cool and—”

“Breathe, Jinhwan,” Junhoe mumbles as he merges onto the street and starts driving home. “I didn’t even know you liked soccer.”

“I don’t!”

Junhoe nearly slams the car into a stoplight.

“Daddy, don’t do that,” Jinhwan whines, tugging at his seatbelt, “it makes the seatbelt get all tight and stuff.”

“Sorry, Jin, but you can’t just spring that stuff on your dear old dad.”

“Daddy, aren’t you only thirty-something? That’s not that old, that’s three times ten! Which is three of me, and I’m not old.”

Bless child logic. “Well, I’m older than you. But what’s this about you and soccer?”

“Well, today we learned that you should get at least an hour of physical activity a day,” Jinhwan enunciates the words clearly, obviously reciting something the teacher’d said, “and Bobby likes soccer, and soccer is a physical activity, right?”

Junhoe supposes Jinhwan’s got a point. Kids are supposed to run around and stuff, right? Plus, this would give Junhoe some time for himself, run errands or whatever. He loves Jinhwan, he really does, but there are some days where he lives for the time Jinhwan’s at school.

“Sure, why the hell not?”

“Language, daddy!”

This is how Junhoe ends up sitting in his neighbor’s borrowed minivan two weeks later, fingers drumming on the steering wheel as he waits for Jinhwan and a handful of other kids. Somehow, when he was signing all the forms, he’d neglected to read the part that specified that all families took carpooling shifts to and/or from practice.

“Where’s Hanbin?” Jinhwan asks from the back. Junhoe shifts his gaze up to the rearview mirror, and furrows his eyebrows.

“Who?” Junhoe really doesn’t mean to forget everyone, Jinhwan’s just far too social.

“Your second son!”

Junhoe narrows his eyes at Bobby, who’s sitting next to Jinhwan. He’d only met the kid a handful of times, but he’s already certain that this kid is definitely one of Jinhwan’s friends that he likes the least. He’s loud, ridiculously active even after an hour of running around, and seems to have no boundaries when it comes to personal space.

“Why did I remember to pick you up?”

“You’re not today. My dad’s car is over there.”

“Then what are you doing in my car?”

“I wanted to talk to Jinhwan!”

Junhoe sighs. He really just wants to go home. “Get out of my minivan.”

“See you tomorrow, Bobby!” Jinhwan yells after him as Bobby jumps out of the car (and Junhoe cringes, his neighbor is not going to like the dirt now smeared into the minivan’s carpet) and runs to his own parents.

Hanbin jumps into the backseat a minute later (oh, right, it’s the kid who wears a bandanna all the time), followed by a couple of other kids.

“Whose house are we going to first?” Junhoe asks, mostly to himself, as he scans the list. “Jung Chanwoo’s” seems the closest, so he shrugs to himself, pulling out of the spot and driving away.

“Mr. Koo?” Hanbin asks, once they’re stopped at a light, “can we stop somewhere?”

“Why?” Junhoe asks, looking over his shoulder.

“I kinda need to pee.”

“We’re not even that far away from Chanwoo’s house,” Junhoe sighs, pressing on the gas as the light turns green. “Just hold it ‘til we get there.”

“But Mr. Koo—”

Junhoe may or may not have pushed the speed limit the rest of the way to Chanwoo’s house, Hanbin throwing the car door open the second Junhoe unlocked it and sprinting up the steps, Chanwoo trailing behind him.

If there’s one thing Junhoe definitely  _didn’t_  sign up for, it was taking kids to the bathroom.


	2. 02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> junhoe attends a soccer practice. it does not end well.

Despite being the father of one of the best kids in the world (in Junhoe’s opinion, and probably everyone else’s, too, but whatever), Junhoe doesn’t really like children.

It is for this reason that he tries to sit as far away from the other parents as he can during Jinhwan’s soccer practices and games, because he knows the minute he opens his mouth, they’re going to lambaste him to high hell.

Unfortunately, he has no choice today – for some reason, the sidelines of the makeshift field are packed with more camping chairs than usual. Junhoe sighs as he scans the side with the parents of kids that go to Jinhwan’s school, planting his chair down to a couple that he thinks seem the least offensive. Knowing his luck with people, he’ll probably end up offending them at some point, but whatever. He’ll take his chances.

“Hi!” the wife says, as Junhoe unfolds his chair, “who’s your kid?”

“Jinhwan. Number 7,” Junhoe says, motioning to his son, who’d caught sight of his father and started waving.

“You didn’t bring him here?” she asks, and Junhoe mentally rolls his eyes, already regretting his decision to sit here. He hates inane conversation.

“I had to come here from work,” he replies, revealing more about himself than he usually likes to, “so he rode with Bobby.”

“What about your wife?” she presses, and Junhoe’s just about to give up and move away when Jinhwan yells from across the field, providing a perfectly-timed and welcome escape.

“Daddy! We’re gonna start soon! Watch me, okay?”

“Kick some balls, Hwan!” Junhoe yells back, and gets a strange sort of satisfaction from the lady’s shocked facial expression after he’s said that. “That’s what you kids are here for, god damn it,” he mutters under his breath.

Smirking, he pulls his sunglasses out from his jacket pocket and slips them on, crossing his legs. He reaches down into his small cooler and pulls out a beer, cracking it open and reveling in the dirty looks he gets as he takes a long drink. Practice is an hour and a half today – plenty of time for the alcohol to finish running through his system, and god knows he needs something before he has to endure any more stupid questions.

The coach motions, and the kids start lining up in groups in front of rows of cones. Junhoe remembers this from his own school P.E. days, with less than fond memories. Once he’d hit his growth spurt, his legs always managed to get tangled up with the cones (and other players).

Luckily, it seems Jinhwan hadn’t inherited that from him – the kid zips through easily, and Junhoe’s amazed that the ball never gets too far off course.

After the lines have gone through a couple of times, the coach sends half of the kids to the goal. Junhoe recognizes the first kid in the goal as Jinhwan’s hyper friend Bobby, and as luck would have it, Jinhwan’s the first to kick. Junhoe’s torn between wanting the ball to hit the kid (gently, of course – he isn’t horrible enough to actually want bodily harm on children, no matter what his friends say) and wanting Jinhwan to make the goal.

“Isn’t that your kid?” the lady next to him asks, and Junhoe nods minutely, eyes locked on his son. Jinhwan walks back a couple of steps from the center of the field, then runs up to kick the ball.

It flies forward, grazing Bobby’s side (the darn kid jumped in the wrong direction to block it), landing in the back of the goal.

“Daddy!” Jinhwan yells, forgetting all sense of decorum and running towards the sidelines, “I made a goal!”

Junhoe gets up from his chair and picks up the boy, using the momentum to spin him around. “You did really well, Hwannie.”

The other parents are gaping at him again, and he raises one eyebrow over his aviators. “What?”

“How did—that—even—” one of the other moms seems lost for words. Junhoe sighs, patting Jinhwan on the butt and nudging him back in the direction of the field.

“I am an awesome parent, thank you very much.” Junhoe sits back down, crossing his legs, and sighs, turning his attention back to the field just in time to watch #26 kick a ball straight into #22’s face.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

Junhoe doesn’t even have to look to know that the parent squad probably all want to burn him alive.


	3. 03

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> junhoe gives jinhwan The Talk.

There is never a good time to have this conversation, in Junhoe’s humble opinion, but all the parenting books said around this age was a good time, so here went absolutely nothing.

Honestly, Junhoe’s been pushing this off for weeks, because he really Does Not Want to have this conversation, but he figures that now, as they’re eating breakfast in a relatively non-threatening context, is as good of a time as any.

“So, uh, sit down.”

“I am sitting down.” Jinhwan gestures to his bowl of cereal and continues eating.

“Oh, great. So. Um. You’re thirteen now, and well, you know about puberty already.”

Jinhwan nods, eyes still fixed firmly on the cornflakes swimming in milk.

“So, with puberty comes certain, uh, urges. And you might want to act on them.”

Jinhwan finishes his cereal and folds his hands together, resting his chin on top of them. Junhoe takes this as a sign to continue.

“You’re gonna get stuff called erections, but no one ever calls them that besides your doctors, probably. And Viagra commercials. But anyways. Always use a condom, or else you’re gonna get a kid tomorrow, and I am not going to be a grandfather yet.”

Junhoe spends the next half an hour red-faced and blustering through everything he knows, or sort-of-knows, about sex and whatever, most of which is just awkwardly reiterating the same thing with different wording.

“Oh god, what if you’re gay, actually? I don’t know anything about gay sex—”

(This is a lie. Junhoe knows a decent amount about gay sex, or more specifically, girl-on-girl, but his son does not need to know what he did during his own teenage years. That’s a secret between him and Jinhyeong.)

Jinhwan sighs. “Oh, god, dad.”

“What?”

“Are you seriously trying to give me the talk? You know they started sex ed in like, fifth grade?”

Junhoe’s pretty glad he’s not eating that cereal because he probably would have choked and died.  _“WHAT?”_

“Yeah, it’s standard, or whatever. I know all about how I was created, and safe sex, and all that. Honestly, dad, I probably know more than you do.”

Junhoe coughs as unobtrusively as he can. He’s feeling slightly insulted, actually, but he’s not like he’s going to tell that to Jinhwan. “Well, I mean, you should always be prepared, and all that.”

“Can I leave now?” Jinhwan asks, “I’m supposed to go see a movie with Bobby and Hanbin in half an hour.”

“Wha—n—yes.” Junhoe clears his throat, and Jinhwan looks far too amused as he pats his father on the shoulder and puts his bowl in the sink.

“Fuck my life,” Junhoe whispers.

He didn’t even give Jinhwan the condoms.

(If Junhoe puts them in his sock drawer with a post-it note, that’s probably good enough, right?)


	4. 04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jinhwan drops two bombs on his father. junhwe is okay with only one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by an anon on tumblr

“Dad?”

Junhoe’s laying on the sofa scrolling through his iPad, when Jinhwan appears in front of him.

“What?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?” Junhoe asks, continuing his browsing.  _Jesus_ , him and Donghyuk are far too old to be exchanging pictures of animal memes, but how else are they supposed to keep up with the youth these days?

“It’s—it’s something really important.”

Jinhwan sounds nervous – this is relatively uncharacteristic of him, so Junhoe looks up at him over the top of his tablet and raises an eyebrow. “What did you do?”

His son immediately flushes, cheeks starting to turn red. “Oh my god, dad, I didn’t do anything!”

“Well then what is it?” Junhoe swears, if he took the fall for one of Bobby and Hanbin’s nonsensical schemes  _one more time—_

“Dad… I—I’m gay.”

Junhoe mulls this over. To be honest, he was starting to wonder a bit why Jinhwan never talked about girls, or asked about girls, or whatever – the boy’s seventeen, for crying out loud, the hormones were supposed to be raging. On the other hand, Junhoe had never particularly noticed Jinhwan’s inclinations for the same gender, which he supposed was probably due to his lack of reading a lot of social cues, and was probably also somewhat bad parenting, but what’s done is done.

“Guess I don’t have to worry about any sudden grandkids. Love you, Jinnie.” He shrugs and sends Donghyuk a picture of a seal with its neck rumpled up in response to Donghyuk’s fluffy cat.

“Dad, there’s something else.”

 _Oh god._ “DON’T TELL ME YOU GOT A GIRL PREGNANT!”

“DAD! NO OH MY GOD, I’M DATING BOBBY!”

Jinhwan’s thoroughly red now, and if Junhoe were a person with less respect for material goods, he would have dropped his iPad. But Junhoe respects that an electronics company named after a fruit produces extremely expensive products, and thus tersely sets it to the side, safely on a couch cushion. He’s not completely sure if he can function properly right now.

“You—you what?”

“I’m… dating Bobby?”

“Is that a statement or a question.”

“Well, is  _that_  a statement or a question?”

Junhoe rises, thankful once again that Jinhwan still has not grown taller than him (and if the doctor is to be believed, probably never will). “You’re dating Bobby? Like, Bobby Kim? Jiwon? Son of Donghyuk, Lord of cat memes? The one that drives me up the wall every time I see his stupid bunny face?”

Jinhwan, to his credit, doesn’t shrink away. “Yeah. That one.”

Junhoe sighs. “I need to process this. Also, you’re not sleeping over at his house tomorrow.”

“Dad!”

“No buts! That permission was for a platonic sleepover!”

“But we’ve been dating for like three mo—”

Jinhwan’s mouth abruptly clamps shut, and he runs off to his room, yelling “Loveyoudadseeyouatdinnerpleasedon’tkillme!” as he does. Junhoe, still reeling from the news, makes no effort to follow him, merely sinking back down onto the sofa as if he’d been deflated. Then he grabs his iPad.

koojune:  _DID YOU KNOW YOUR SON WAS DATING MY SON_  
kimbabappa:  _yeah_  
koojune:  _AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME_  
kimbabappa:  _no_  
kimbabappa:  _i thought you knew_  
kimbabappa:  _it’s not like they were being subtle, really_  
kimbabappa:  _but then again you’re also terrible at reading people_  
koojune:  _consider our friendship null and void_  
kimbabappa:  _wow rude_  
koojune:  _also, bobby is coming to dinner at my house_  
koojune:  _tomorrow_  
koojune:  _tell him to pull his pants up or so help me god i will do it for him_  
koojune:  _i am not paying for any medical expenses related to fabric wedged up places they shouldn’t be_


	5. 05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> junhoe's protective dad instincts might be a little too strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> set immediately following 04

“Jinhwan.”

“Yeah, dad?”

“You look like a pathetic puppy. Stop sitting next to the door and help me set the table.”

Jinhwan rolls his eyes, fidgeting with the rolled sleeves of his shirt as he leaves his post next to the front door, grabbing the plates off the counter and setting them down. There are three spaces tonight, instead of the usual two – the third is for Jinhwan’s (it pains Junhoe to even think the word) boyfriend, Bobby.

This in itself is not unusual. Junhoe’s played reluctant host for the two boys multiple times throughout Jinhwan’s formative years. The kitchen table has seen many a homework assignment, heart-to-heart that Junhoe always pretends he can’t hear, argument, and actual meal. But this is a first.

“Why couldn’t you have waited til you were, I don’t know, thirty before you started dating?” Junhoe groans, taking out some bean sprouts from a container and putting them on a small dish. “I needed more time to prepare myself.”

“When you were thirty, I was already born,” Jinhwan retorts, taking the dish and putting it beside the rest of the  _banchan_. “Isn’t that a little hypocritical?”

“When I was thirty, you were small and cute and didn’t talk back.” Jinhwan’s still small and cute, but that’s not the point.

The doorbell rings. Jinhwan springs up, running to the door to pull it open (and revealing the bane of Junhoe’s existence. Not really. The kid’s not  _that_ bad, but if Junhoe had to choose to deal with him or not, he’d rather have the former.)

“Hi,” Jinhwan says, slightly breathless, running a hand through his hair.

“Hey,” Bobby replies, leaning in a bit, presumably to kiss Jinhwan, but he catches sight of Junhoe's fiery glare in the kitchen and straightens back up. Jinhwan turns back, pouting slightly at his father.

Junhoe rolls his eyes. He is immune.

“Hey, Mister K!” Bobby calls, smiling widely and waving as if Junhoe were standing at the end of a soccer field instead of twenty feet away.

“My last name is  _Koo_ ,” Junhoe says tersely, “it’s Jinhwan’s last name, too, is it really that hard to say?”

Bobby shrugs. Junhoe fights the urge to roll his eyes again, or pick up his iPad and demand Donghyuk beat some sense into his son, and tells Jinhwan to close the door. Bobby takes off his shoes, passing Jinhwan a plastic bag with his free hand.

“Courtesy of my dad. He said it would make things easier, or something.”

Jinhwan passes the bag over to Junhoe, who peers inside. It’s a box with a sticker from one of his preferred bakeries. Donghyuk is literally trying to butter him up.

“Have a seat,” Junhoe says, and Bobby complies, settling into his usual seat. Jinhwan sits to his right, and Junhoe puts the rice and pork on the table before sitting down across from Bobby.

“Thanks for the food,” Bobby says, helping himself to the kimchi, oblivious to Junhoe’s glare. Jinhwan follows suit, pecking at his rice, evidently nervous.

“So,” Junhoe leans forward slightly, “mind telling me about how all this,” he gestures between the two boys, “got started?”

Jinhwan immediately turns bright red. This is either a very good thing (Junhoe will get another fun story to tell) or a very bad thing (Bobby did something really stupid).

Bobby chews on a mouthful of food contemplatively, looking off to the side. “Well,” he says, “we were all hanging out at Hanbin’s, doing homework and stuff. Then Hanbin decided he wanted to watch some horror movie, and Jinhwannie started freaking out—”

“Bobby!” Jinhwan hisses, and Junhoe feels a kick under the table that he presumes was meant for Bobby.

“Come on, Jinhwan, don’t worry about it,” Bobby laughs. “So yeah, Jinhwan got all skittish and stuff – you know what I’m talking about, right?”

Junhoe knows exactly what he’s talking about – Jinhwan had never been the strongest of heart when it came to scary things – but he wishes Bobby would just get to the point already. There’s only so much his eyes can narrow before they just close.

“So we were like, halfway into the movie, and Jinhwan’s glued to my side. It was kind of painful, really, but Hanbin noticed and he was all ‘why are you hanging onto Bobby so much, you usually hang onto me too, do you like Bobby or something?’” Bobby pauses to eat some more. Junhoe’s got a pretty good idea of where this is going, and he’s pretty sure it’s going to end with him developing more of a distaste for Hanbin, too. Such a shame, it is, that he doesn’t like either of Jinhwan’s best friends.

“And Jinhwan started freaking out because apparently Hanbin was right, and then Hanbin started freaking out because he didn’t actually think that was the answer, and then I started freaking out because Jinhwan actually liked me, and then I think Jinhwan ran home.”

It’s all coming back to Junhoe, now – that day, Jinhwan had burst through the door and ran straight to his room, refusing to come out until the next day, and Junhoe had had to ignore ten minutes of pounding on his door by a couple of teenage boys.

“And then we talked about it and then we started dating,” Jinhwan cuts in, shoving some sprouts into Bobby’s open mouth. Bobby frowns, but ceases talking.

There’s no conversation for the next few minutes. Junhoe supposes this is the part where the parent is supposed to be grilling the significant other about themselves, but Junhoe already knows far too much about Bobby, and he’s not interested in finding out about anything else.

Unsurprisingly, Bobby breaks the silence. “Are you guys always this quiet while eating?”

Junhoe winces internally. Does Bobby really not view him as an adult, or is he just this casual with everyone? He suspects it’s both.

“Not really,” Jinhwan says, “but it’s usually me talking about school or dad complaining about something.”

Bobby nods, and that’s the end of the talking for the rest of the meal. Junhoe’s saving his big interrogation for later, anyways.

Once they’re all finished, Junhoe banishes Jinhwan to the living room (him and Jinhwan have got this whole ‘talking with their eyes’ system down, and it works with scary accuracy) while Bobby helps him clear the table.

“So, Bobby,” Junhoe says, keeping his voice as even as possible, “what are your intentions with my son?”

“Intentions? Like… I intend to date him? If that’s what you’re talking about.”

 _Dear god this boy is dense_. “You guys aren’t having sex yet, right.”

“ _DAD!_ ” Jinhwan screeches from the living room.

“No, Mister K.”

Junhoe picks up the knife he used to cut the pork and starts cleaning it loudly, just to make sure Bobby can see him holding it. “You sure?”

“Yes, Mister K.”

“Lies!” he yells, whipping around and sticking his finger out, “Jinhwan opened his condom box!”

“He has a  _wha—_ AUGH!”

“DAD!” Jinhwan yells again, running into the kitchen, just as Junhoe’s about to put Bobby in a headlock, “what the hell are you doing?”

Junhoe releases his hold. He can hear his back cracking. He is far too old for this shit. Waving Bobby away dismissively, he holds his back, praying that neither boy can see him in this moment of weakness.

“Go… just go. I will deal with you later,  _Jiwon._ ”

Junhoe just hopes that this will be a passing teenage fling that they can all laugh about in a few years.

(He then shudders – did he really think that he would still be seeing Bobby around in a few years? He must be getting soft in his old age.)


	6. 06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jinhwan invites his boyfriend over for christmas. junhoe's choices of christmas gifts are questionable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested on tumblr; originally written for christmas 2015

“dad, can bobby come over for dinner tomorrow?”

junhoe’s about to open his mouth to sigh loudly and grumble “i mean i guess,” but then he remembers what day tomorrow is.

christmas day.

“ _WHAT????_ ”

to his credit, jinhwan doesn’t flinch. then again, he’s been living with this for the past seventeen years, so.

“and his dad,” jinhwan tacks on, as if that will make things any better.

(it does, although very very marginally.)

“why?” junhoe asks, although he pretty much already knows the answer, and it doesn’t really matter what reason jinhwan gives, because he’s probably going to say yes anyways. he just doesn’t want jinhwan to think he’s getting away with this easily.

jinhwan clears his throat, and junhoe swears he sees the white edge of notecards peeking out the top of his pocket. “well, bobby and i have been dating for a while, and i thought it would be nice to have a... gathering, or something like that.”

“you mean you want to make out with bobby in the bathroom while me and donghyuk make fun of each other.”

jinhwan turns bright red. junhoe’s still got his touch.

junhoe sighs. “so... you’re cleaning the house for this, right?”

jinhwan grins, running up and hugging his dad around the stomach. junhoe pats jinhwan’s hair fondly as jinhwan lets out a muffled “love you, dad” into junhoe’s shoulder. even at seventeen, jinhwan still barely clears junhoe’s chin. neither of them are holding out for a last-minute growth spurt (and it doesn’t help that junhoe’s six feet tall).

“go make a list of things for dinner so we can go to the store later,” junhoe says once jinhwan releases his hold. “i make no promises that i won’t spike bobby’s drink with sleeping meds.”

“ _dad!_ ”

“i hope donghyuk knows that he’s responsible for bringing something!”

*

after braving dirty looks from middle-aged ladies when junhoe takes the last good vegetables without a care in the world, long grocery store lines, and a miniature crisis when the oven decides to stop working with the chicken still inside, the koo family has finally made a respectable christmas dinner.

junhoe sighs, brushing the hair out of his face as he looks at his and jinhwan’s handiwork. neither of them have much experience with special-occasion food, but he doesn’t think donghyuk or bobby have particularly high standards anyways. for four guys, this is perfectly acceptable.

“jinhwan, for the last time, i am  _not_  wearing a santa hat,” junhoe groans.

“how did you  _know_?” jinhwan protests from behind junhoe, who turns around to see jinhwan with said offending hat in hand. “i was being really quiet!”

“because i know everything,” junhoe says simply, “now go and sit by the door like i know you want to.”

jinhwan doesn’t need to be told twice, running off with the santa hat still in hand. junhoe looks off in the direction he’s left to, a wistful smile on his lips. ah, to be young and in love.

the doorbell rings a few minutes later. junhoe hears bobby before he sees him, the kid yelling “MERRY CHRISTMAS, JINANI!” followed by what sounds like someone being tackled.

donghyuk slips into the living room, a plastic bag containing a box in hand.

“hey,” he says, “i brought that cake you like.”

“good,” junhoe replies, taking it to go put it in the fridge, “god knows i need it so i don’t strangle your kid.”

“how do you think i do it?” donghyk chuckles.

“i’ve been meaning to ask you that for  _years_ ,” junhoe yells from the kitchen, “jinhwan, too.”

junhoe can’t see him, but he knows donghyuk’s rolling his eyes at him. “you know you love him too, june.”

junhoe grunts noncommittally as jinhwan and bobby stumble into the room, arms linked around each other. bobby’s wearing the santa hat that junhoe supposes was originally supposed to go on his own head, the pom-pom on the end covering one of his eyes. junhoe raises an eyebrow, and jinhwan extricates his arms sheepishly while bobby just grins.

“merry christmas, mister k!” he says, “thanks for having us over.”

“thank me later if i don’t kick you out.”

bobby just laughs as jinhwan leads him to the living room table. it’s a weird mix of a western-style chicken and mostly korean side dishes, but as the young kids say, yolo.

junhoe cuts up the chicken as the rest of them start on the other dishes. he tries very hard to ignore the fact that bobby and jinhwan are feeding each other at the other end of the table. donghyuk seems like he’s just inclined to humor them, passing junhoe plates so he can put some of the chicken on them.

the first ten or so minutes of the dinner pass in an awkward silence.

“so,” bobby says, defaulting to his usual role as silence-breaker, “how’s everyone’s christmas been so far?”

jinhwan follows suit, replying with “pretty good, me and dad were preparing for most of the day, though.”

“didja get anything good?”

jinhwan turns bright red, and junhoe laugh-coughs into his hand. donghyuk opens his mouth to ask, but junhoe waves him off, a silent promise to tell him later.

“wh-what about you?” jinhwan sputters, eager to turn the conversation away from himself.

“dad got me a new pair of jordans.” bobby shoots donghyuk a grin. “i’m saving them for a special occasion.”

bobby raises his eyebrows at jinhwan twice in quick succession - an expression not missed by junhoe.

“defile my son and i’ll defile you,” junhoe drawls, punctuating his statement with a particularly vicious stab to a piece of kimchi.

bobby blanches, and jinhwan drops his head onto the table with a hollow  _thud._  donghyuk just laughs. junhoe really wishes he decided to make that alcoholic eggnog after all, even though he’s not really sure what a nog is and why one would do that to an egg.

“you do realize that jinhwan’s older than me, right?” bobby asks, voice quivering just a touch, just how junhoe likes it.

“of course. but he’s my baby. you are not.”

“ _dad_ ,” jinhwan groans, “i am seventeen.”

“and you aren’t an adult yet, so sucks for you, kid.”

“i’m sixteen,” bobby supplies unhelpfully.

“we know,” donghyuk says, “now eat your chicken before junhoe pops a vein in his forehead. he’s not as young as he used to be.”

“that’s low, donghyuk. you’re older than me.”

“yeah, by like two months!”

“still older!”

junhoe rolls his eyes, but his gaze is quickly diverted to the side at the sound of two teenagers trying to sneak away.

“kim jiwon take your hand out of my son’s back pocket or so help me god--”

bobby does so sheepishly, raising both his hands in the air in surrender.

“at least put your plate in the sink,” donghyuk says. bobby and jinhwan escape to the kitchen, grateful to have been given an out.

“i swear, your son is going to be the death of me,” junhoe sighs, staring at his glass of water.

“live a little, junhoe,” donghyuk laughs. “they’re just kids.”

“your kid is the kid who almost got suspended for climbing on the roof of the school in his boxers. my kid is the student body president.”

donghyuk coughs. “well i mean when you put it that way--hey, your kid helped him get away with it!”

“he’s loyal?” junhoe shrugs. “i don’t know. why did i ever let jinhwan be friends with him.”

donghyuk gets up and pats junhoe on the shoulder. “because like it or not, bobby has a way of worming his way into your heart and staying there. you still got some beer in the fridge?”

“but i don’t  _want_  him there,” junhoe almost-whines, “donghyuk, control your son!”

donghyuk returns with two bottles of beer and passes one to junhoe. “nothing i can do about him. he was like that before i ever got to him.”

junhoe says nothing, popping open the cap with his knife and taking a long drink. the two of them sit in silence, just drinking.

“they’re probably making out in jinhwan’s room, aren’t they,” donghyuk says.

“probably.”

“are we going to stop them?”

junhoe laughs. “nah. my christmas gift to jinhwan, or something.”

suddenly, bobby’s hysterical laughter can be heard throughout the house:  _“he got you WHAT?”_

“i vote we take the cake and go back to your place,” junhoe says.

“agreed.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on:
> 
> [tumblr ](http://ridethishoe.tumblr.com) | [twitter](http://twitter.com/loverikonic) | [livejournal](http://greycheonsa.livejournal.com/%22)


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